GLENN: You've got $4 a gallon gasoline now in Chicago, you have yesterday's announcement of the biggest federal deficit in the history of our country and this is what it -- I love this.  The candidates, the liberals are going to say, oh, we told you these Bush tax cuts are going to go away, biggest federal deficit, it's the war, we can't afford this war.  Somehow or another we can afford healthcare.  "We can't afford it."

So what they're going to do is they're going to spend a lot of their time now talking about how expensive this war is and how expensive the tax cuts are, when they miss the underlying problem.  If you have $4 a gallon gasoline, are you going out and spending a lot of money?  If you have $4 a gallon gasoline, you know, do you change your lifestyle?  Do you think to yourself, "You know what, I'm going to have to cut back."

Dan, how much does gas have to be before you say, okay, I mean, I think we better start saving our money and cutting back or I can't drive as far or, you know, I'm not going to go out to dinner?  How much does gas have to be?

DAN:  I don't know the exact number but it's got to be pretty far away from what it is now actually just because, I don't know.  You know, when it goes up $1, that's only -- what's that going to cost you over a month?  Fill up three, four times a month.  $50, $60?  You know what I mean?

GLENN:  My gosh, the wealthiest 1% once again on the radio.

DAN:  I don't know.  Maybe I would say if it starts getting close to 5 bucks, I would probably be really thinking about maybe getting a Prius.

STU:  Yeah, but who are these people that are just driving around aimlessly for hours?  I don't do that.  I go where I need to go.  I'm going to -- I'm pretty much --

GLENN:  I mean, I think you guys are so freaking out of touch, I think you guys are out of your mind.  You are telling me, you are telling me that $4 a gallon gasoline's not going to affect the average person?

STU:  Okay, I guess my wife could just get a job closer to home?  She's going to drive the amount of distance that's from our home to work.

GLENN:  No, no, no, I'm not saying that you are going to cut down -- no, no.  I'm saying you are going to cut down in other spending.

STU:  Yeah, as soon as it starts to affect your budget, of course you are going to have to cut other things out.

GLENN:  And I think $4 a gallon gasoline starts to affect your budget.  Look at it this way.  How does it affect the food prices?  We've got -- I love this.  They are now claiming that we have food shortages.  Gee, I wonder why.  It's kind of like -- and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be like, oh, food shortages, that's horrible, wonder what caused that.  Hmmm, I don't know.  What do you say?  Ethanol?  Gee, we got people who are working fewer hours and they're making the same amount of money but we raised the minimum wage.  I wonder what caused that.  Oh, I don't know.  You guys?  These guys keep trying to come in and save the day when they are the ones that destroyed it in the first place.  Here's what happens if gas goes up to $4 a gallon.  If gas goes up to $4 a gallon, it affects your food price.  I mean, truckers right now are protesting in Washington about the gas prices.  You know, when somebody was, you know, filling up their truck and now it's taking them twice the amount to be able to fill up their truck, that's a problem.  And they've got to pass it on some place.  I say -- I mean, why doesn't the government bail out the truckers?  I mean, here are a bunch of people that got these loans for these trucks.  Now they can't afford them.  Another victim the government is ignoring, the trucker.  Gas prices, through no fault of their own, going through the roof.  For truckers gas prices will determine whether or not they stay in business.  I mean, they can handle a slight increase but this is getting out of control.  Like the homeowners that are getting discounts on the home loans.  Why not give truckers gas at the price they can afford?  Big oil companies, they don't need the money.  I mean, remember they made $40 gazillion or something like that.  I'm not sure.  But it was in the gazillions.  It's only fair that the poor struggling truckers who are out on the road from their families so long get a break.  I mean, where do you stop it?  Where do you stop it?  Because everybody's going to be hurting.

Here's the big one that's going to be hurting.  If you ever think of this poor victim, maybe we should bail out the government.  Here's one that you just don't ever think about.  New York State, the top 20 taxpayers in New York State last year by this time had paid $577 million in taxes, $577 million in taxes.  The same top 20 taxpayers this year at this time -- last year at this time they paid $577 already to the state.  This year at this time they've only paid $87 million.  This is what the federal government and all of these stupid attorneys that are running our country don't understand.  You can't just keep taxing the rich because the rich, when the thing goes down, they don't have it, either.  They are not making the money, either.  They are struggling.  The businesses struggle.  And if you look at the $577 million, those top 20 taxpayers, those are mainly banks, financial institutions, businesses.  It's not the average Joe.  So they've got $577 million that they are paying in taxes.  They will pay it.  They got it.  They don't have it now.  $87 million.  That should tell you a direction of the economy.